Call for calm after Indian train attack

One of the burned cars of a train that was carrying Hindu activists in Godhra, India.

NEW DELHI, India (CNN) --Indian Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee has called for calm after up to 50 people were killed when an angry mob set fire to a passenger train in the western state of Gujarat.

The train was carrying dozens of Hindu activists returning from the north Indian town of Ayodhya where they had been demanding the government build a temple on the ruins of a 16th century mosque destroyed nearly a decade ago.

At least 18 others were seriously injured in the attack on the Sabarmati Express service which happened Wednesday morning near the station at town of Godhra.

Officials have refused to confirm the identity of the attackers saying only that a mob of about 2,000 firebombed the train setting four of the cars alight and nearly destroying one of them.

Most of those killed are believed to be Hindu activists. The number of dead is expected to rise.